Dryads invvading Kortiki.

For those who don't know, I've been working on fleshing out Kortiki. So far it looks like a great place where prey and predator lives in harmony. Fairies like the stuff humanoids make, and they like safety and fairy magic in return so everyone's happy and partying fairy style with all those things prey's civilization offers--such as alcohol and cultivated catnip. (●ↀωↀ●)

Now, it is very tempting to add at least a few dryads to the town--or even make all trees there Dryads :3--and why not? Even with all the chatting over the Wood Wide Web, dryads are often just a little lonely, so they would probably love to live in a village, and the Kortikins would love them.

Problem: what about food, and how many dryads is too much? Kortiki is based on harmony, with each species benefitting each other. Dryads in Kortiki would need to be fed, as I doubt they can snatch many animals in the middle of a village, so they would need to do something in return, and I want to hear some great things they can do.

First off, postal office. At least one dryad would be invaluable to stay in contact with the rest of the kingdom. Second, defense and construction: being warned through plants about incoming predators could be invaluable, and dryads could grow defenses and houses.

Third, magic: some can control the weather or even link others--at least the one in Jungle Bowl.

But fourth? As dryads can move, it would not be outlandish to have many decide to at least temporarily live in Kortiki. In fact, there might even be arguments about who could stay. Therefor, I would like to hear about other things dryads can do, and would justify there being many of them.

Can dryads bear fruit, or grow items? Could one live in them? Don't forget we're talking about tiny-sized villagers here. How would they decide who could stay? Are they all just that loving and easygoing that there would be no arguments?

If not, then I think it would be better to have no dryads there at all, but if so, for what reason?

Dryads can photosynthesizes to generate the necessary energy to live. They are the species that can actually live without having to eat anything, unless the land they grow on is very infertile, such as Cactus Dryads in Akaptor Desert.

There's a problem with adding dryads to Kortiki Town and it's the simple fact that dryads just don't grow on demand. You can't really cultivate dryads because, as noted in the wiki, the vast majority of seeds released by dryads don't land in a precise spot that allows them to sprout as dryads, hence why dryads are normally so few and far between. Not to say that adding dryads to Kortiki Town is inherently a bad idea, it's just the fact of the matter is that it's not plausible. At most there would only be one dryad growing on the outskirts of Kortiki Town.

About the subject of town defense, what exactly would the town need to be protected against? At first glance deerataurs seem like the obvious pick, but I talked about it to Karbo and he told me that deerataurs respect that Kortiki Town is a neutral zone, thus they are no threat. Since most of the other listed creatures are quite small by Felaryan standards and thus don't possess the means to level the town, the only real threat would be magic elementals, which are absurdly rare.

Well, of course dryads can't be cultivated, but they can still walk and get there eventually--even if they stop mid-way and settle down for a few years now and then. After all, they're not in a hurry. When they do get there, they get the unique experience of living in a village, with more company than just the other dryads. And if they don't like living inside the village, they could just move a few miles further.

And the Kortikins still need to go out into the woods to gather and hunt food. Living on enlarged berries and leaves alone is probably bad for you. It would be a great help if Kortikins could run from the wildlife by taking refuge with friendly dryads.

But that aside, why would predators not try and attack the village every once in a while? It's a nest full of rare food! Sure, attacks probably fail with all those magical inhabitants, but still.

Anyway, I would expect that over the course of the centuries, many dryads might like living there.

Ps: Shady, as you seem to be the local expert on fairies--you do seem to be present in every thread about them--I would like your input into other topics as well, like food and wildlife. Can I send you a link to google docs?

Some Dryads can walk, yes, but I imagine would be very hassle for them, a stationary species, so unless in a great need, I doubt they will ever walk. Just think them like Ents in Lord of the Rings: sleep for years, than only get routed when Saruman messed with them.

There are a race of Dryad that has better walking ability: Faebane. But like the name suggests, Faebane eats fairies, and they can walk rather fast to avoid being hunted by fairies, so I don't think they are good candidates to stay in Kortikins. If other type of Dryads do the walking, these winged creatures may mistake them for Faebanes and burn them on-spot.

Again, a scenario like that falls in the realm of implausible. In the best case scenario, it assumes that a free-roaming dryad, because according to the character template some dryads are stuck in one spot, would be nice if a detail like that be made clearer but I digress, happen to stumble upon Kortiki Town, like it here, decide to call her friends in Fairy Kingdom, who are in no obligation to comply and may not even be all be free-roaming, to come there and like it. It's a one-in-a-million chance. Furthermore, as you said yourself, the fairies could just ask them to move elsewhere if their presence happens to trouble the elves and humans, at which point they move further, plus there's also the issue of food. A group of dryads would have to compete over food, and the more dryads stand in relatively the same spot, the more preys would have to pass there to satiate them all, and obviously, the chances of that happening are extremely slim. Even if you say that it might happen over the course of centuries, it also assumes that the dryads who first settled there wouldn't move away, and I do think logically that some of those dryads would indeed move away during that time.

Anyway, as far as going in the woods, it always struck me as logical that when humans, nekos or elves need to go look for something out of town, they bring fairy friends along. It reinforces the notion of trust and friendship between the two races, and it only makes sense that they would have fairy help them stand a better chance in the forest they are intimately familiar with.

The definition of predator is overly broad. I didn't write the wiki, nor am I Karbo, but if Word of God says that deerataurs normally don't attack Kortiki Town because it's a neutral zone for them too, then that's the way it is. Also, keep in mind that just because he said it means that it's an absolute. Maybe there are a few dicks who don't respect the neutral zone thing, but they are the exception, not the rule. In general I split predators into two categories, Giants and Beasts. Giants are the sapient half-human hybrids, and Beasts are everything else that falls within fauna. Since beasts aren't sapient, the neutral zone thing doesn't affect them, but since the ones we know of to exist in the Fairy Kingdom seem so small compared to the ones in Tolmeshal Forest, an "attack" would be more a nuisance than a crisis, pun not intended.

The only reason I'm the local "fairy expert" is because fairies are quite frankly the biggest mess in this entire setting and I'm trying to fix this. I could rant more about it, but the point is that people constantly misread their abilities, or like I said in my A Fairy Friend Did It thread, use them as a thinly veiled substitute to the Wizard Who Did It to justify all sorts of bollocks writing involving other giants.

Heh, I dislike messes just as much, and this is exactly why write this out.

Dryads are constantly telepathically talking right? This is the internet in Felarya, and they have literally nothing better to do. I would expect all of them to have heard of it.

Scry wrote:

For those who don't know, I've been working on fleshing out Kortiki. So far it looks like a great place where prey and predator lives in harmony. Fairies like the stuff humanoids make, and they like safety and fairy magic in return so everyone's happy and partying fairy style with all those things prey's civilization offers--such as alcohol and cultivated catnip. (●ↀωↀ●)

I wouldn't call it harmony, probably close but the wiki states there's no rules against eating somebody in Kortiki. It's only considered rude. XD Fairy logic, you have to love it. Fumac and Catnip are okay, but Kortiki is more well known for all it's Alchemical ingredients as well as, since Fairies are very magical in nature, it's unique Fairy crafted magical artifacts and specialized rare magic since Muroyo Library is not that far away.

Scry wrote:

Now, it is very tempting to add at least a few dryads to the town--or even make all trees there Dryads :3--and why not? Even with all the chatting over the Wood Wide Web, dryads are often just a little lonely

Contradictory information. The "Wood Wide Web" as you put it, te he he hilarious by the way big fan of Felarya puns, is HUUUUGE. Dryads almost never get lonely. Look at the Felarya map and count how many trees you see. Now imagine every two of three is likely a Dryad. Seriously people reference nagas allot in this world, but without a doubt Dryads are the most densely populated race I'd say only thing even coming close to them would be Enfrii the ant-like micro Tinies.

Scry wrote:

First off, postal office. At least one dryad would be invaluable to stay in contact with the rest of the kingdom. Second, defense and construction: being warned through plants about incoming predators could be invaluable, and dryads could grow defenses and houses.

Why aren't there Fairies who fill these roles? Tis their Kingdom afterall. I always imagines Kortiki, and other fairy settlements, had a sort of town guard or a milita. Though I do have to ask who'd be stupid enough to attack Fairies in THEIR HOME. XD Seriously even my most insane villain wouldn't do that on his worst day. It'd be a slaughter. Or in Felaryan terms: a banquet.

Scry wrote:

And the Kortikins still need to go out into the woods to gather and hunt food. Living on enlarged berries and leaves alone is probably bad for you. It would be a great help if Kortikins could run from the wildlife by taking refuge with friendly dryads.

Shady wrote:

There's a problem with adding dryads to Kortiki Town and it's the simple fact that dryads just don't grow on demand.

Shady wrote:

Anyway, as far as going in the woods, it always struck me as logical that when humans, nekos or elves need to go look for something out of town, they bring fairy friends along. It reinforces the notion of trust and friendship between the two races, and it only makes sense that they would have fairy help them stand a better chance in the forest they are intimately familiar with.

This. Listen to Shady. If you're going to live in Kortiki you had best make friends with some of the local fairies, heck somebody, two actually I forgot Bael a second, even wrote about the pro's and con's of marrying and dating a fairy so we know it can happen and it yeilds a few downsides but way, way more benefits. I also, and this is my own personal fannon talking here, believe there are Echidin Riders who act as local Knights and occasionally, if it suits them, go charging into battle to safe citizens of the realm. Mostly adreneline junkie Fairies or one's who miss the days when Ye Olde Felarya was more exciting, but again that's just me.

Ummm what about Domisticated Dryads? http://www.felarya.com/wiki/index.php?title=Domesticated_Dryads

My stance on Domesticated Dryads? I hate them. First of all, how does one even acquire a dryad? As noted in the general article, most of the seeds released by dryads just grow into ordinary plants, which makes finding dryad saplings, the best candidate for domestication, a crapshoot at best, and that's assuming they even have a lead where to look. Second, even if they somehow were to find a sapling, they have a subconscious camouflage reflex, which makes them extra hard to spot, so pretty much it would require a wizard just to be able to see through the illusion. Third, who the hell in its right mind would go out in the jungle, where there are literally a hundred of other monsters and hazards ready to kill them, all to find an elusive creature for some rich bastard who's too petty to stick with normal plants, all so they can start some sort of freakish breeding? I said it before and I'll say it again, but monster hunting is not a lucrative business in Felarya, it's too high risk for too little reward.

Last, but not least, what purpose do Domesticated Dryads even serve? The other species of dryads, not counting the Faebanes of course, serve to establish how the environment affect how a dryad grows. You could say the same for the Domesticated Dryad, but let's face it, the only reason they exist is because Silent-Eric thought it would be a funny and cute concept, and to its credit, it works as a joke just like his Lit Ciggy Bar. But like many other jokes, it somehow ended up in the wiki despite being nothing but a useless gimmick and not even making a lick of sense when you stop to think about it, like the Felarya Express.

And speaking of Faebanes, they are what happens when people think making a one note sapient race in the hopes of "balancing" another is a good idea. The entire point of their existence is to serve as a natural predator to fairies, even though bugs were all but outright stated to already fill that niche, all because people thought it would "balance" fairies, completely missing the point that people are in under no obligation to use them, thus leaving fairies as "broken" as they were. For a normal, mindless plant like the Feyweed, it's somewhat acceptable, but for a thinking creature, it just isn't. If you were to remove that one quirk, then Faebanes have no identity as their entire existence is hangs on a shallow gimmick. It truly astounds me that people honestly believed that the key to balance something was to add something that no one was forced to use instead of, you know, actually fixing the thing by rewording the vague clauses so they're clearer like I did.

It looks like this is another of those situations where I did not put the right information into the top post.
Harmony as in: "Fairies are fascinated by human(oid) culture, and thus all fairies here are pimped out in jewels, beads, jewels, and other accessories and henna tattoos. The prey species here know what fairies like, and provide them goods and services they probably can't find anywhere else. In return, not only are the people here protected from wild predators, but they have a blast living the fairy life.

Kortiki is a happy place where people laugh and play the day away, while doing the things they like doing. Some bake cookies, others love body painting, or make jewelry, etc, and then give it to others. There is no concept of "property" since fairies can fall in love with an object in a heartbeat.


Since they all grew up with each other, many being family in all ways but blood, no fairy here considers eating any of the Kortikin humanoids. Eating friends, or a friend of a close friend, is not something they do, right? These are the one and only fairies who humanoids could call civilized. In return, no human will suddenly become rich by sneaking back to Negav to sell bottled fairies that he has been hiding in a magic bag.

Or as someone once put it: this is a town of hippy commies.


Not even wild fairies manage to fly in and snatch a snack. The town is build close to each other, using trees like apartment buildings, that no one is ever truly alone.

Not to say that they're not often visited by wild fairies, who are after all very curious, want to know where the Kortikin fairies get all that swag, or are just looking for a meal. They are offered body treatments and goodies in return for prey. Word has spread over all of Fairy Kingdom that you can trade in your prey for "shinies and body scribbles".

It's literally harmony as in "each species provide something the other loves, and they're one big, though extended, family.


For protection: I foresee Kortiki itself being rarely if ever invaded. However, what happens in nature when there is an abundance of a certain animal? Its predators will thrive. There's probably plants and animals there that can eat a fairy easily, even if just a snake that lashes out and poisons the fairy.

For the dryads: I really do thought they would not be that numerous, but if they are then there's even more reason why they would be in or near Kortiki. However, I merely intended Kortiki as a fun and unique place, and thus something that many predators would like to visit at least once. With a thousand or so fairies, there isn't a predator that can't be shrunk to a human size, so even Crisis could visit once people can be sure that she won't eat tinies--not to mention that in this magical place, lots of people have at least one or two spell-like abilities.

Postal office: let's call a dryad a telegram office then, okay? Of course delivering packages and letters must still be done by hand, but nothing is as fast as instant communication.

glad you find Kortiki interesting

And yes indeed by a strange chance, Kortiki is a place in Felarya one could really call harmonious ^^
Basically what happens is the no eating rules allows fairies and other species to build links and friendship over the time they simply wouldn't have in normal circumstances. And seeing how fairies relate to friends, in most cases that's all that is needed for species like humans to be safe really.

For the dryads I could imagine a few of them living in the city and abiding by the rules but not too many of them.  Mostly because I'm not really sure whether most dryads would naturally seek proximity with such a lively and noisy place. Your typical dryad love to sleep a lot and what we regard as solitude would be a completely different thing for them.
Still imagining how those living in the city would interact with the rest of the population is interesting. Somehow I have the picture of a dryad acting like a construction crane popping in my head XD